Finding inspiration in the Psalms: a Church Times one day festival

Thursday 2 October 2025 | 10:00 - 16:30

De Grey Rooms, York

 Introduction

Finding inspiration in the Psalms

A one day event exploring the gift of the Psalms through poetry, art, liturgy and music.

Join us for a unique opportunity to learn from world-renowned experts in the Psalms in a historical setting, with hot buffet lunch and refreshments.

Through poetry, art, music and liturgy, contributors will explore topics including the role of Psalms of praise and exaltation, how Psalms helps us to express pain and suffering with honesty and still find the words and the inspiration to praise God, the place of the Psalms in the lived and living theology of the church, and more.

The rediscovery of the Psalms as a source of songs of lament, praise and hope — and as a welcome ritual when churches were closed — was notable during the pandemic, and has not waned. This renewed appetite will be the focus of this one day conference appreciating and understanding the Psalms, and their application today.

Speakers: Malcolm Guite, Victoria Johnson, Roger Wagner and Megan Daffern

10am – 4.30pm, De Grey Rooms, York - finishing in time to attend Evensong at York Minster, 500 metres away.

Speakers 

Malcolm Guite is a poet and priest, and Life Fellow of Girton College, Cambridge. His books include David’s Crown: Sounding the Psalms and Sounding the Seasons: Seventy Sonnets for the Christian Year, both published by Canterbury Press, and Mariner: A Voyage with Samuel Taylor Coleridge (Hodder 2017). In 2023, he was awarded the Archbishop Lanfranc Medal by the Archbishop of Canterbury. 

Malcolm talks about the Psalms (and the event here). 

Victoria Johnson is Dean of the chapel of St John’s College, Cambridge. She grew up singing in the Anglican Choral tradition and read Theology and Religious Studies at Cambridge University and the Institute of Sacred Music at Yale University, United States. After parish ministry in Manchester, she was made a Residentiary Canon at Ely Cathedral, and, in 2020, was appointed Canon Precentor of York Minster, overseeing the music and liturgy in that place. She is Canon Theologian at St Edmundsbury Cathedral and still sings as a cantor at St John’s. She has recently published her first book, On Voice: Speech, Song, Silence, Human and Divine (DLT, 2024)

Roger Wagner is an artist and poet, and Honorary Fellow of Lincoln College Oxford. Among his recent exhibitions was Stanley Spencer/Roger Wagner at Cookham, and The Farther Away at the Museum of Modern Art in Machynlleth. There is a permanent collection of his work at the Faith Museum in Bishop Auckland. His books include The Penultimate Curiosity (with Andrew Briggs), and several books of poetry including The Nearer You Stand, and The Farther Away. Thirty years ago, he began translating and illustrating the Psalms, and a selection of these was published by Canterbury Press as The Book of Praises in 2020. 

Megan Daffern was installed as Canon Chancellor of Wells Cathedral in September 2023. She was ordained priest in 2006, after which she spent many years in student welfare, teaching, and research, first as Chaplain of Jesus College, Oxford, then as a tutor at Lucy Cavendish College, Cambridge. Latterly, she was Acting Dean and Director of Studies in Theology at Gonville and Caius College. She also supported many vocations, candidates, and ordinands coming into ministry while she was Diocesan Director of Ordinands in the diocese of Ely. She continues to teach Hebrew Bible/Old Testament courses online for the Eastern Region Ministry Course and is committed to keeping up her research in the Psalms through speaking engagements as well as publications, including her book Songs of the Spirit: A Psalm a Day for Lent and Easter. At Wells Cathedral, she is responsible for the schools’ work, for resourcing lifelong learning, and for the Library and Archives. She is also Keeper of the Fabric and supports the breadth of volunteer ministry.

 Programme

Venue

The De Grey Rooms, built 1841-42, is an example of early Victorian public architecture built by private subscription. The site is also an example of urban military architecture, and a comparatively rare example of a high-status military entertainment building.

Find out more about our venue here. 

Refreshments

Refreshments are included in the ticket price. Tea and coffee will be served on arrival, mid-morning, and mid-afternoon. Plus, a lunch buffet, including hot items and desserts.

Catering supplied by Bradshaws, York’s premier outside catering service. 

Bookstall

Church House Bookshop is proud to be the official bookshop for this event. View books by our festival speakers and relevant titles, all on special discount.

<Bookstall>

Tickets

IMPORTANT: Please add orders@hymnsam.co.uk to your safe senders list. Once you have ordered your ticket, please check your inbox and, if necessary, your Spam folder, to retrieve your order confirmation email and ticket. The link to the broadcast is embedded in the ticket. If it has not arrived safely please contact us at events@hymnsam.co.uk. Thank you.

Please note: If you have booked your ticket and are no longer able to attend in-person, HA&M only offers full refunds of the amount paid if cancellation is at least three months before the event date: 50% of the amount paid will be refunded if cancellation is at least one month before the event date. No refund is possible after that date.

If you are in training to become an ordinand and are already signed up to receive a free subscription to Church Times as part of our ordinands scheme, you are eligible to receive a discounted ticket.

If you are an ordinand-in-training, who does not currently have a free subscription to Church Times, you can find out more here.

Livestream tickets are now available: watch the entire day live, or at your convenience anytime after the event.